The FCC is getting lots of advice on potential changes to its draft order tackling robocalls and robotexts, set for a vote on Thursday (see 2409050045). Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington have mentioned concerns about the order but aren't necessarily expected to dissent on what is usually considered a top consumer priority, industry officials said Friday.
All Illinois counties now have 911 services, the state police said Monday. “Stark County has finally reached the 21st Century with our 911,” said the county’s Sheriff Steven Sloan. Previously, Stark County residents had to call a specific, 10-digit number for emergency services. Those who called 911 would be routed through other counties’ systems. That will no longer be the case because Stark County entered into an agreement with Peoria County to create a joint emergency telephone system board, Illinois police said. “With the intergovernmental agreement between Stark and Peoria counties, each county in Illinois now has a comprehensive and coordinated 911 system,” said Illinois Statewide 911 Administrator Cindy Barbera-Brelle. Meanwhile, the state continues upgrading systems to next-generation 911, “which will provide increased services and better responses in an emergency,” she said. In Illinois, 158 of 179 public safety answering points have NG-911. A few rural areas across the U.S. still lack 911, a National Emergency Number Association spokesperson said Tuesday.
The House Commerce Committee is back on track to advance the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-8449) as part of a markup session Wednesday, as expected (see 2409100070), but the measure’s Senate backers still face headwinds. The panel said Monday night it will mark up HR-8449, which would mandate that automakers include AM radio technology in future electric vehicles, along with 15 other bills. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is eyeing attaching her Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) to an end-of-year package instead of pursuing another markup attempt before Congress recesses at the end of September for pre-election campaigning. She previously eyed a potential September markup of S-4207 (see 2408150039) in hopes of resurrecting the measure after it repeatedly stalled earlier this year. S-4207 would restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through Sept. 30, 2029, and provide a vehicle for allocating funding for the commission’s lapsed affordable connectivity program and other telecom priorities.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen chose Maros Sefcovic as the bloc’s commissioner for trade and economic security, saying in a Sept. 17 mission letter that Sefcovic should help the EU take a “more assertive stance” on the use of sanctions and other economic statecraft tools, work to modernize the EU’s customs system, and push to finalize free trade deals.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced a bill that wouldn't allow tariffs to be hiked under Section 232, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Section 301 or any other customs and trade laws or trade agreements unless Congress passes that "new tax into law."
AI is “part of everything” and will only grow in importance, but the U.S. is falling behind other countries in developing AI policy, Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said Thursday during the Augmented and Virtual Reality Conference. “Innovation and technology are moving forward and policy is falling further and further behind,” DelBene said. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and the Extended Reality Association (XR) sponsored the conference at the AT&T Forum.
Much like the accountants and audit standards that safeguard financial systems, the generative AI universe needs an ecosystem of organizations, rules and people to oversee the technology and ensure it works as promised, NTIA Director Alan Davidson said during a talk Thursday at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Davidson said the federal government is sorely lacking in the technical expertise it needs to wrestle with AI-related policy questions. While the government's technical knowledge is improving, "a huge gap" remains, Davidson said. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said Thursday that the U.S. is falling behind other nations in AI policy development (see 2409120035).
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., introduced legislation this week that would limit American outbound investment in Chinese technology and give the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. more power to police Chinese investment in the U.S.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York: